Ryan Ramsey is the Libertarian Heathen. He serves as the Region 4 Representative and Bradford County Chairman for The Libertarian Party of Florida. He is also the National Director of Public Relations and Florida Vice-President of the American Guard.

Prohibition, What Drugs Can Teach Us About Guns

Violence and substance abuse are cultural issues and mental health issues that are only made worse by state efforts to solve them using prohibition laws.

I wanted to wait a little longer to publish this, out of respect for the victims of the recent mass shooting in my home state of Florida. Unfortunately, the leftists are already drafting gun control bills before the blood even dries, so I have decided to inject a dose of reality into the situation.

The graph on the left shows the rapid rise of drug overdose as a cause of death compared to suicide and automobile accidents in the state of Ohio.

The graph on the right shows per capita drug overdose deaths from 1970, when the Controlled Substances Act was passed, until 2007, when it approached 10 per 100,000. In 2018 it averages about 15, in WV is is 35.5.

This year over 50,000 will die of overdose, most from opiates. That’s about as many US casualties in the entire Vietnam War that lasted a decade.

Driving the rapid increase in death is the drug war crackdown on “pill mills”, that have driven the price of prescription drugs so high, there is now a booming heroin market. Heroin is now cheaper because of efforts to crack down on prescription drug abuse.

It is being “cut” with a synthetic opiate called fentanyl, originally created to make an abuse resistant painkiller, sold in patches rather than pills. Each effort focused on the substance, rather than the root issues, makes the problem worse.

Fentanyl is so potent, the dose is in micrograms. Illicit labs in Mexico and elsewhere produce it cheap, and by adulterating heroin supplies with the potent synthetic, the profits of the cartels see a dramatic increase.

It does not take much to accidentally create a batch of lethal heroin. Cities all across the US have random waves of mass death because of these careless mixtures.

Before the prescription drug epidemic, we had the black tar heroin epidemic. Now we have a fentanyl laced heroin epidemic. If one supply of drugs is cut off, another opens up, and each time the product is more potent and the price gets lower. The death toll rises. Attempts to beat supply and demand with draconian laws will fail every time.

Prohibiting guns won’t solve our violence problem, it will make it worse. In England firearms deaths from 1998-2008 increased 89%, and up to 500% in some areas. The media likes to talk about lower gun homicide rates in countries that ban guns, but simple research shows the complete picture.

We have far fewer violent crimes than Canada and the UK. Canada has 963/year per 100,000 “most violent crimes,” while the US has 420/year per 100,000. “Most violent crimes” here are counted as: “murder and non-negligent manslaughter,” “forcible rape,” “robbery,” and “aggravated assault” (FBI values).

England and Wales classify crimes somewhat differently, but have about two times the US rate, 775/year per 100,000, if “most violent crimes” are defined as: “violence against the person, with injury,” “most serious sexual crime,” and “robbery.”

Having 2-4 times the people being raped, bludgeoned, stomped, and stabbed, in order to lower the gun homicide rate, is not a solution. The fact such a solution coincidentally renders every citizen a slave by stealing their ability to resist tyranny, and violates our natural rights enumerated in the Constitution makes it insanity.

What those who want to ban guns will get is a civil war as a result of their misguided attempts to stop violence. They know this, and employ an incremental approach, hoping if it is gradual enough they can succeed without facing justice.

This supposed solution of “gun control” just creates another black market. It is ultimately a thinly veiled attempt at people control.

In the land down under, a number of serious crimes rose in the years after the ban. Manslaughter, sexual assault, kidnapping, armed robbery, and unarmed robbery all saw peaks in the years following the ban, and most remain near or above pre-ban rates.

The same broken families and rotting culture that drives drug abuse also drives violence. We need to address our root cultural issues to solve the plagues of drugs and violence.

Laws don’t help, they make it worse. They keep good people from defending themselves. They keep addicts from seeking treatment for fear of losing their kids, jobs, and the stigma of being involved in criminal behavior.

Convictions for drug offenses prevent them from having a second chance. The cycle of poverty and misery drives continuing relapse into addiction.

The only western countries that have lowered drug abuse decriminalized them. Portugal is a dramatic success story, and nearly 2 decades later, the results continue. They gave addicts treatment, not prison.

Within 6 years of decriminalizing, Portugal had the lowest rates of drug use and death in all of Europe. Per capita, more US teens have tried Cocaine than teens in Portugal have tried Marijuana.

The same is true about guns. When you see the US firearm “homicide” rate, remember, that includes justifiable and gang homicide. The reason we do not have 2,4, or 10 times as many rapes, robberies, assaults, etc., is because in the United States those people get shot when they attempt these crimes far more often. Our most crime ridden cities are the ones with strict gun control for a reason.

America needs a cultural revival, not a drug war and a gun ban.

We need to stop blaming flowers, powders, and metal tools that fire projectiles. That is the denial that feeds addiction and violence.

The problems we face are inside of us as people, and these problems are evident in the culture that is a mere expression of our combined honor to ourselves and others.

Love the hurt and lost, and help them heal, as opposed to punishing them.

Start treating personal safety as a personal responsibility, like providing food and shelter. Carry a gun and train how to use it, so that nobody can find large crowds of unarmed victims.